Ren'Py WebGL how important is sound ?

[ljezzl]

A couple of days ago I was reading a post about the keys to success for an NSFW game, I consider that the main thing is its marketing.
BUT!
There was a comment, which said something like "adding sound effects, moans, gives you a lot of extra points, even though you may not believe it, many developers do not add sound"

I'm developing my first game (even without sound) and this comment has stayed in my head,
what do you think? Is sound important? Can you enjoy a game without sound? Would those "extra points" of the sound make you decide whether to play it or not?

Where do you recommend getting these sound effects?

this is the game I'm developing
Others - HTML - Futa No Jutsu [Development Thread] | F95zone

 

[Wreggx]

For me sound is very important because It helps you set the mood better.
Moans and sex sounds have to be subtle because many people skip the dialogue.
If your sex scene has active dialogue and is not a cutscene, then at least half of the moans or sex sounds will be lost anyways. Music is the bare minimum you should have (in my opinion). If i download a game and it does not even have a title music, i most likely will not even play it because if you really care about making a game you should put a certain amount of love into it.

A silly but good example is a Jumpscare. Imagine you have a Jumpscare but there is no sound effect and you just get a flashing picture. Okay you might get spooked but now add a sound effect and you will feel the difference.

That being said, you don't have to add sound for every little thing in your game but having specific sounds for specific 'important' moments can be very immersive.


For your question where to get the sound:
You have to browse the internet for royalty free, copyright free music.
It can take A LOT of time to find good sounds.

But here is a start:

You must be registered to see the links

You must be registered to see the links

Make sure you always check what licenses they have set and read them to see if you can remix or change the sounds/music and if you have to give credit or if you need to pay for it. Oh and yeah, you can always hire someone to create sounds for your game aswell.

 

[allanl9020142]

There are few VNs that I've played that don't have sound but those have pretty good stories. So it's not that those particular ones didn't need sound. It's just that the writing and/or visuals are good enough to almost make up for the lack of it.

Even if it's just different background music on a cycle, it can really help make the game feel more alive. Sound is important but it's not everything. But if you're not going to include sound, it'd need to be a story-based VN and it'd better be firing on all cylinders for most of the other aspects. Otherwise it just feels like a lot of empty, dead space. Sound can help set the mood/emphasize things and inversely, no sound will make any boring or bad part of the game seem even worse.

If it's not a story-based VN then yea, what are you doing man? lol.

 

[Tompte]

Personally, I can't stand wet sound. They drive me absolutely up the wall. So I always end up muting erotic games and animations as they're usually full of sounds of some guy punching a jar of mayo. It's the sound of purified cringe to me. I'd prefer to play with sound, but usually can't.

I really appreciate it when games separate sex sounds from regular sound effects in the options menu, so I can adjust the volume/mute them separately. I don't even bother with games with pre-rendered video because they're guaranteed to not have that option.

And I know for a fact I'm not the only one:

You must be registered to see the links

 

[anne O'nymous]

Is sound important?

It totally depend.

If you are a good sound engineer and can select soundtracks that match the feeling of the scene, intensifying the said feeling and doing it when it have too, and doing this in a consistent way, therefore with the feeling that there's only one soundtrack from starts to stop, I would probably like the sound addition.
But the truth is that so far there isn't a single game that achieved to do that, and almost all have sound for the sole purpose to not have no sound. This lead to a background music absolutely not interesting, that I mute to listen to music that match my taste.

What lead to the second point, wet SFX...
If your game have no background music, I'll not mute the sound, but I'll still listen to my own music. Then will come the said wet SFX, that will blast through my speakers, and will make me hate your game from the deepness of my heart.
And like those SFX rarely match what effectively happen on the screen, because 99,99% of the time they are just moaning and/or heavy breathing, that follow a constant rhythm whatever if the girls is nicely fingered as preliminary, or if she have her ass destroyed by a strong pounding, it will be worse.

TL;DR:
The sound is like everything else in a game, whatever it is the writing, the coding, or the arts, it's something that can really improve a game... when it's done well. But it's already rare to find someone who's a good writer, good coder and good artist, so adding one more skill make it exceptional. Do not try it unless you know what you are doing, there will me more people who dislike it, that people who will like it.

 

[AlternateDreams]

I've muted the sound on almost every game I've played here.
Most of the time, it doesn't add anything and I prefer listening to music.
I also find it difficult for the creators because once they start adding sound, they can't really stop and put scenes with sound and others without, I think it would be too weird for the players.

 

[ljezzl]

desynchronization and repetition of wet sounds play an important role in the rejection of a game
It seems that the solution for this is to have a good knowledge of sound and/or a sound engineer nsfw

Here is a post about the development of my game, I think I should have added it at the beginning (I am new to using forums), to give more context of the sound I am looking for
Others - HTML - Futa No Jutsu [Development Thread] | F95zone
note: I hate working with sound, I think it comes from traumas from the Spanish guitar school

I've muted the sound on almost every game I've played here.
Most of the time, it doesn't add anything and I prefer listening to music.
I also find it difficult for the creators because once they start adding sound, they can't really stop and put scenes with sound and others without, I think it would be too weird for the players.

I hadn't thought about this, you're right, it's more work, and it will be something that users will constantly expect.
Although it is my first game, and the quality standard is not that high, I also do not want the audio to minimize the rest of the art or slow me down.
I think the wisest thing is to add sound near the end of development

Personally, I can't stand wet sound. They drive me absolutely up the wall. So I always end up muting erotic games and animations as they're usually full of sounds of some guy punching a jar of mayo. It's the sound of purified cringe to me. I'd prefer to play with sound, but usually can't.

I really appreciate it when games separate sex sounds from regular sound effects in the options menu, so I can adjust the volume/mute them separately. I don't even bother with games with pre-rendered video because they're guaranteed to not have that option.

And I know for a fact I'm not the only one:

You must be registered to see the links

Christmas music and a specific genre of music from my country causes me this syndrome.
separate the audio tracks, it's good advice, I personally deactivate the sound effects but keep the music

It totally depend.

If you are a good sound engineer and can select soundtracks that match the feeling of the scene, intensifying the said feeling and doing it when it have too, and doing this in a consistent way, therefore with the feeling that there's only one soundtrack from starts to stop, I would probably like the sound addition.
But the truth is that so far there isn't a single game that achieved to do that, and almost all have sound for the sole purpose to not have no sound. This lead to a background music absolutely not interesting, that I mute to listen to music that match my taste.

What lead to the second point, wet SFX...
If your game have no background music, I'll not mute the sound, but I'll still listen to my own music. Then will come the said wet SFX, that will blast through my speakers, and will make me hate your game from the deepness of my heart.
And like those SFX rarely match what effectively happen on the screen, because 99,99% of the time they are just moaning and/or heavy breathing, that follow a constant rhythm whatever if the girls is nicely fingered as preliminary, or if she have her ass destroyed by a strong pounding, it will be worse.

TL;DR:
The sound is like everything else in a game, whatever it is the writing, the coding, or the arts, it's something that can really improve a game... when it's done well. But it's already rare to find someone who's a good writer, good coder and good artist, so adding one more skill make it exceptional. Do not try it unless you know what you are doing, there will me more people who dislike it, that people who will like it.

the phrase "Do not try it unless you know what you are doing, there will be more people who dislike it, those people who will like it." gold worth

 

[Count Morado]

A couple of days ago I was reading a post about the keys to success for an NSFW game, I consider that the main thing is its marketing.
BUT!
There was a comment, which said something like "adding sound effects, moans, gives you a lot of extra points, even though you may not believe it, many developers do not add sound"

I'm developing my first game (even without sound) and this comment has stayed in my head,
what do you think? Is sound important? Can you enjoy a game without sound? Would those "extra points" of the sound make you decide whether to play it or not?

Where do you recommend getting these sound effects?

this is the game I'm developing
Others - HTML - Futa No Jutsu [Development Thread] | F95zone

The average member on this site posts fewer than 2 times and if you sorted all the members from least to most posts, the median member would have Zero. Look how many posts each member has that has posted in this thread. Just between AON and I, we make up for more than 7500 members who have never posted (and actually probably closer to 15,000 because post counts don't include off-topic posts...).

You're asking a very small minority of people who do not represent the general demographic of the population that downloads games from this site what they think is important. Also, the people from whom you want to actually know what's important to them are the ones which will financially support you to make the game. Less than 1% of the members on this site are subscribers on Patreon and/or Subscribestar.

If this is your first game you are developing - you should stick with the basics and learn how to make a game. After building a following on your favorite creator platform, you could then ask them what they think would be nice to see in your second or third or whatever game.

Until then, you should just focus on developing the game with passable art, mechanics, storyline. Focus on marketing that game. Focus on consistency. Focus on good work/life balance. Sound F/X, V/Os, and background music should be near the bottom of your priorities.

PS: Speaking of marketing - make sure any links, any links, to your game thread goes directly to the OP (The first post of the thread) or some important post made by you that somehow is better than OP. The one you included above goes to post #14 of your game thread, a post by Icarus Media (who doesn't need the added attention, they whore enough as it is ).

 

[Icarus Media]

PS: Speaking of marketing - make sure any links, any links, to your game thread goes directly to the OP (The first post of the thread) or some important post made by you that somehow is better than OP. The one you included above goes to post #14 of your game thread, a post by Icarus Media (who doesn't need the added attention, they whore enough as it is ).

Hey, us devs support each other!

 

[Sir Gary Bummer]

I had similar thoughts when I was finishing up the first release of my game. "People actually want sound in their porn?"

So, I began replaying some of the biggest titles just to get a crash course in what people expect. Not sure how much I learned, but literally all of them have sound, so I just followed suit. With... some mixed results, I think. I like the music I've added, but do the tracks fit their respective scenes? Idunno. Is the SFX I've added actually enhancing the game or just silly? Idunno. Dev and learn, I suppose.

Anyway,

You must be registered to see the links

is what I've been using after reading through some other threads on the subject. It's $19 for a month, and their licenses don't expire, so you can just cancel it immediately. More importantly, they have explicitly stated that they do not mind people using it for NSFW stuff. Licensing can get iffy otherwise with these games.